Luck of the Draw
by HaveBookWillTravel
Summary: "The only sure thing about luck is that it will change."—Bret Harte. Jaune Arc has always been a bit unlucky in life. A rare stroke of fair fortune nets him the chance to attend Beacon Academy, but is it only the set-up for a greater fall? Can Jaune capitalize on this opportunity or will his propensity for zemblanity strike again? Early Semblance, lucky!Jaune, GEN.
1. Superstition

**Author's Note:** So in my other story _The Golden Retriever_ , I was coming up with one of my background characters' Semblance and, as he's based on Han Solo I figured I'd give him something that influenced probability ("Never tell me the odds!"). But as I thought about it, I realized that would be wasting a hell of a Semblance on a guy who won't be showing up all that often, and all of a sudden it clicked: who needs the odds being ever in their favor more than Jaune, upon whom falls all of the FNDM's worst horrors?

Three hours and a few beers later and here we are.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own any of this. From the rights to _RWBY_ to the letters used to type this feeble story, I'm not the guy you're looking for.

 **Warnings:** Adult language, gratuitous violence, and poor writing. You have been warned.

* * *

Chapter 1: Superstition

* * *

Luck is quite an interesting concept. Whether it is wishing someone good luck before an important undertaking or lamenting one's own bad luck when adversity strikes, it is a seemingly intrinsic part of the human condition. Fortune constantly make playthings of all sentience, offering someone the serendipity of finding a wad of cash on the street while denying another the simple joy of a morning coffee due to a slip of the hand and a lost wallet.

To a young man named Jaune Arc, recent Huntsman initiate, luck was something to curse and fear in equal measure. For as long as he was able to recall, Jaune's luck wasn't what anyone—even an eternal optimist like his father—could even generously call good. Be it getting picked on by the biggest, most brutal girl in primary school because she had a crush on him or losing the tickets to his high school prom and getting dumped by his girlfriend of four years (incidentally the same person), Fortune had never quite smiled upon the poor boy (though it _had_ given him some nefarious smirks and evil laughter from time to time).

Therefore, Jaune could be forgiven for being leery of anything going remotely his way. Finding someone to create a decent forgery of basic combat school transcripts was one thing, and being accepted into the prestigious Beacon Academy was the natural conclusion to the first, but to then be chosen by one of the prettiest girls he'd ever met (and he'd met some insanely hot girls in the past day or so) to become her partner for the next four years was really pushing his willingness to suspend disbelief. There had to be a catch somewhere in there (nearly getting kebabed notwithstanding).

With such profound thoughts whirling through his head, it wasn't really odd that Jaune had lost track of his surroundings.

THWACK!

"Aw, son of a—!"

"Oh, Jaune I'm so sorry!"

Jaune chuckled nervously, holding his hand to the stinging line of pain tracing across his cheek. "N-no big deal," he tried laughing it off, even though that _really_ smarted. He'd had worse, and it wasn't like this would be the last time he was going to get struck across the face. In Jaune's not insignificant experience with life in general, it was easier to pray for the best while preparing for the worst.

He dug in his waist pouch (and it was _not_ a fanny pack, no matter what Ruby called it the day before) and pulled out an alcohol pad and a little bandage with bunnies on it, then proceeded to clean and cover his new wound. With any luck it'd turn into a badass facial scar (but who was he kidding, really?).

"See?" he turned back to his new partner and offered her a thumbs-up. "Good as new!" His hands fell when he noticed the odd face she was giving him. "What?"

"Why isn't your Aura healing the cut?" she asked, looking bemused.

"My what?" he replied blankly. Shoot, was this one of those Huntsman things he should know about? He _knew_ he should have gone to the library and studied up on this stuff!

Thankfully, Pyrrha didn't seem put off by his cluelessness. "Your Aura," she repeated with a small smile that turned slightly mischievous. "You _do_ know what Aura is, right?"

Panic seized Jaune, and he blurted the first thing that came to mind. "Pfft, of _course_ I know what Aura is...d-do _you_ know what Aura is?"

Jaune fought the urge to punch himself in the face; she obviously knew what Aura was. She probably knew a hundred times what he did when it came to Huntressing if the list of accomplishments Weiss had boasted about in Pyrrha's stead was anything to go by. Seriously, who wins the same competition _four consecutive times_?

"Aura is the manifestation of our soul," Pyrrha explained patiently, ignoring his foolishness. "It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Huntsmen and Huntresses use Aura as a shield. Everything with a soul has an Aura, Jaune, even animals."

"So...it's like a force field," he surmised after mulling her words around in his head.

Pyrrha gave a light chuckle. "You can look at it like that, sure," she said. "I can unlock yours, if you want."

"That sounds grand," he smiled, parroting her words to Weiss from earlier that morning. She returned it and stepped toward him, pressing a hand to the side of his face.

"Alright, close your eyes and concentrate," she commanded, and Jaune did as he was told, feeling a little hot under the collar. This was a little more intimate than he had been expecting, though he supposed it would have to be, since she was unlimbering the bonds holding back what was essentially his _soul_.

His discomfort melted away, however, when Pyrrha spoke. It was as though he were hearing her not with his ears, but with his very being. They resonated within him, sending shivers racing up and down his spine while his skin broke out in goosebumps.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality," her voice, paradoxically powerful and soft at once, reverberated in his mind. "Through this, we become paragons of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death." Distantly, Jaune felt her other hand press against his chest, right above his heart. "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."

As soon as the last word was uttered, something erupted within him, like a geyser of strength and vitality he'd never known was there had just been tapped. He opened his eyes, ready to thank her, only to see her slumped over and panting lightly.

"Pyrrha?" he asked, worried, but she simply waved him off.

"I'm alright," she assured him. "I used my Aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you is now your own." Jaune felt a strange warmth beneath the bunny bandage, and he checked to find that the scratch he'd acquired earlier was all but gone, leaving nothing but a silky line of new skin in its wake. "You have quite a lot of it."

Jaune watched as the white glow that surrounded his form slowly dimmed and sank back into his skin. "Wow," he breathed, not quite believing the situation. Not a month ago, he couldn't dream of being in the Emerald Forest with his very own force-field to protect him from the creatures of Grimm, yet here he was. Perhaps his luck was finally turning around?

* * *

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have tempted the universe with such a blasphemous thought. Why the hell would the winds of fortune suddenly begin blowing in his favor without an honest-to-goodness miracle or some other sort of divine intervention?

As Jaune sailed through the air, he cursed the brief flash of optimism he'd felt upon having his Aura released. When would he learn that hope was the worst of the four-letter words? Although he supposed that entering a Deathstalker's cave and yanking on its stinger wasn't the _smartest_ idea he'd ever come up with. At least he'd gotten a hit in with his family's sword that blinded it in at least three of its eyes, even if it had been mostly because he'd tripped on his fallen torch when it took a swing at him.

His (totally manly and not girlish at all, shut up) scream was cut off abruptly when he felt something crash into him at high speed. Or had _he_ crashed into whatever it was? Regardless of the semantics, Jaune and the unknown object slammed into a tree trunk, where he took a moment to gather his wits and bite back an instinctive groan. It was a good thing Pyrrha had unlocked his Aura earlier, otherwise he'd have broken at least half a dozen bones from the mid-air collision alone.

Jaune was distracted from the slowly-receding pain by something shifting in his lap and a tiny whimper. Looking down, he found none other than Ruby Rose rubbing her shoulder.

"Hey, Ruby," he said with a weak grin. "Just dropping in?"

She winced and rolled her eyes. "You know, I think that was more painful than the actual impact, and I grew up with _Yang_ ," she informed him, and he chuckled. "Thanks for catching me."

"It wasn't exactly on purpose," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "But I'm around any time you need an airbag."

He helped her to her feet, and she dropped lightly to the ground to meet up with her sister. Jaune took a moment to get the lay of the land from on high. On a small hillock, pressed up against a bluff was a semi-circular ruin of pillars and plinths, upon which rested black and gold objects that Jaune couldn't quite make out from his perch, while several people were gathered near the temple. There was a dark-haired girl with...were those cat-ears on her head? Beside the cat-girl was the blonde girl Ruby had called her sister the day before, and a little closer to the treeline was a ginger girl and a green-clad boy with a pink streak in his otherwise black hair.

As he watched, Pyrrha ran into the clearing with the Deathstalker hot on her heels. Gritting his teeth, Jaune was about to go to his partner's aid when an incredulous shriek from above made him raise his eyes skyward.

At first, all he saw was a massive crow Grimm he thought might have been called a Lost Lenore or something to that effect. After a second look he noticed a smudge of white that, upon closer inspection, resolved itself into the white-haired vision of beauty he'd met in the locker rooms. It seemed as if she were about to fall...

...and there she went.

 _"Confidence is all you need to attract a good woman, Jaune."_ The words of his father floated up to the forefront of his mind, and Jaune knew immediately what he had to do, even if he was reasonably sure it would net him even more pain than he'd already been put through.

Then again, it was his dream to become a hero, and what was a hero but someone who helped people without thought for themselves? Mind made up, Jaune leapt off the branch with his arms outstretched. Remarkably, Weiss landed securely within his grasp, and as they fell he mustered up his most charming smile for her.

"Can't have you hurt on your way down from heaven, can we Snow Angel?" he grinned as he curled around her and spun so that his back was to the ground.

"What are you—?" she began to exclaim, but they hit the ground before she was able to finish her thought.

As a young man who may or may not have gravely insulted the gods of chance and circumstance in a past life, Jaune Arc was no stranger to pain. Sure, there were the bullies who attacked him on a regular basis, and the accidental injuries inflicted upon him by his loving family, but the most common source of misery for Jaune was the tripping and falling from various heights several times daily. Once as a youngster, he'd slipped on a discarded feminine pad, ricocheted of a wall via his face, and then bounced down two flights of stairs. He'd been hospitalized for a month before going home with both arms and his groin area in a cast.

Jaune knew, therefore, just how much pain to expect when falling from so high with the added burden of another person weighing him down. So he was incredibly surprised when the agony which assaulted his nervous system was rather... _lackluster_ compared to what he'd anticipated. Why, it was as though he'd only tripped off a curb and into the way of a decelerating vehicle!

 _How have I lived so long without Aura?_ Jaune marveled to himself even as his breath was squeezed out of him by the hard earth on one side and a pliant but still undeniably solid female body on the other. _This stuff is amazing!_

As he got to his feet, hoisting his passenger up along with him, Jaune felt practically invincible. At least, he did until a small, sharp quartet of knuckles buried themselves in his yielding gut.

"What kind of brain-dead buffoon are you?" snapped Weiss. "Did you even have a plan for landing safely?"

"Well yeah, obviously," he replied nervously, taking an instinctive half-step back. Growing up with seven sisters had allowed him a unique insight into when a woman was about to beat the ever-living shit out of him, and Weiss seemed a hair's breadth from flying off the handle. "You're not hurt, right?"

That simple argument seemed to cut the legs out from under the diminutive girl, and her eyes widened minutely as she processed his answer. "I am, thank you for asking," she said almost automatically before regaining a little of her indignation. "That still doesn't excuse the fact that you disregarded your own well-being simply because I am a Schnee!"

"Gesundheit," he said, helpfully offering her a tissue from his waist pouch.

"That's my family name, you ignoramus!" she shrieked, batting the tissue aside furiously.

"Oh," Jaune responded blankly. Did that sound familiar? He thought it might, but...well, he _had_ taken more than a few knocks to the head growing up. Perhaps his memory was permanently damaged? After all, he hadn't recognized Pyrrha, and she was on the box of his most favorite breakfast cereal of all time! "It's a nice name?" he tried with a weak smile.

Weiss' pale complexion pinked dramatically in rage, but before she could do something unspeakable to him, Ruby's bombshell of a sister saved him from what he could only assume was eternal horror. "Nice catch there, Lady Killer," she complimented, slugging him on the shoulder hard enough that it would have bruised were it not for his totally awesome force-field. "I call dibs on the next rescue."

"Uh...what?"

Yang smirked, jerking her thumb back toward Ruby, who was on her way to grabbing a relic. "Well, you already saved my sis and the Ice Queen here—" the blonde girl pointedly ignored Weiss' outraged objection (though whether that was to her new nickname or that she needed saving was up for debate). "—so I call the next save, Mr. Knight in Shining Armor."

She flicked his nose playfully while he stammered. "But you're _way_ strong," he mumbled. "I doubt you'd ever find yourself in a damsel-in-distress kind of situation."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Yang approved, slinging an arm around the both of them, and steered them over to where the others were.

Of course, Pyrrha took that moment to land in a barely-organized heap at everyone's feet. Jaune was at her side immediately, helping her sit up. "Pyrrha, are you okay? I'm so sorry for abandoning you like that."

"I don't consider being flung away at high speeds by a Deathstalker to be abandonment, Jaune," Pyrrha gently assured him. "Though we still have the same problem at hand."

As the giant arachnid bore down on the group, Ruby took the opportunity to do something ill-thought-out. Well, at least to Jaune it was, but then again he'd been inundated with a lifetime of poor luck so anything that could in any way result in bodily harm was considered ill-thought-out to him.

Jaune called out a warning as Ruby took off at ludicrous speed toward the Deathstalker with Crescent Rose pulled back in preparation for a grievous strike, but she was too quick. Her scythe was knocked off-kilter by the canny scorpion's pincer, and the imbalance sent Ruby flying backwards. She turned to put some space between her and the Grimm, but the other monster in the area decided at that moment to tag-team with its ground-bound kin.

Massive pinions seemed to sprout from the earth as the big crow (or was it a raven?) hurled its oily black feathers crashing downward, and one of the enormous things struck at just the wrong moment, pinning Ruby's red cloak in place and jerking her to a halt, right in the path of the rampaging Deathstalker.

Yang was the first to run to her sister's aid, with Jaune not far behind. The airborne Grimm (seriously, the first thing he did after he recovered from whatever injuries he would no doubt gather from Initiation was go to the library and read up on the creatures of darkness), swooped around low and sent off another volley of feathers, directly in their path.

Jaune's sharp eyes noticed a feather on a collision course with Yang a moment after it was loosed. His fellow blonde was too focused on her imperiled sister, and Jaune recalled her banter just a minute before.

 _Don't screw up, don't screw up,_ he chanted to himself, using the cadence of his inner voice to increase the tempo of his legs as he strained to catch up with every last fiber of his being. He drew level with Yang and he threw himself forward, deploying Crocea Mors' shield right as the feather struck. The razor-sharp point of the javelin-sized projectile glanced right off the stalwart barrier at the most perfect angle and rebounded over Ruby's head, ruffling her hair with its passing, and lodged itself straight into one of the Deathstalker's remaining eyes as it rushed forward to take out the red-and-black clad girl.

Before anyone could so much as blink, a white blur rushed past them and, with a large circle full of eldritch marks made of pure light, unleashed a devastating wave of ice upon the dark arthropod, freezing it in place. Yang, who hadn't broken stride even when Jaune leapt in front of her, reared her fist back and swung a hard hay-maker backed by an explosive Dust round into the feather, driving it all the way through the Deathstalker's body. The creature's death rattle battered Jaune's ears, but he breathed a sigh of relief when the thing began to dissolve into hideously black smoke.

"Well, that's one way to do it," Yang said after a moment of silence. She turned to Jaune with a grin. "That was a hell of a save there, Vomit Boy; we'll call it even for ralphing on my boots yesterday."

Shrugging, Jaune accepted the ribbing with a good-natured smile. "It's definitely a feather in my cap," he quipped, wishing he actually had a hat to make the idiom more relevant, but he'd take what he got.

Yang seemed to appreciate the joke, though, as she let out a bark of laughter. "Ha! See, Ruby? I'm not the only one who makes awesome puns!" With a quick two-fingered salute to Jaune, she headed over to help Ruby free her cloak and save her from the scolding Weiss was dishing out. Retracting his shield, Jaune rubbed his shoulder gingerly. That deflection he'd somehow managed to pull off was indeed amazing, but it hadn't done his poor body any favors, Aura or no.

Shaking out his arm in a futile attempt at alleviating the pain, Jaune cast his eyes up toward the avian Grimm. It was circling warily after watching them take down one of its brethren but he had a sinking feeling that its caution wouldn't last long.

"We should probably get going before Big Bird up there stops messing around," he called loudly enough for both groups of initiates to hear him.

"Jaune's right," Pyrrha agreed, glancing skyward as well. "We've got what we needed, let's head back to the Cliffs."

Everyone else agreed, and they took off toward the bluffs that loomed over the Emerald Forest. Above them, the Grimm angled toward them and kept pace as the scurried toward their goal using the trees as cover. However, as they neared the sheer rock face the treeline ended, and several dozen yards beyond that so did the ground. A massive tower complex hung suspended over a deep gorge that seemed placed specifically to hinder their progress. Thin bridges spanned the chasm with no guardrails or safety measures in sight, and worst of all, the Grimm chasing them knew that they would be sitting ducks if they tried to cross here.

Hovering at the edge of the forest, the group of Beacon hopefuls tried to figure out a plan.

"I can probably distract it with Crescent Rose," Ruby said. "My rounds can punch through most Grimm hide."

"Don't you know anything?" Weiss admonished. "A Nevermore's feathers are arranged in a way that any sort of bullets would lose their momentum before it got past the first few layers."

"Well I could still get its attention," the younger girl groused.

"Nora will be able to help if we go down that route," the guy with the pink lock supplied, gesturing to the ginger girl. "Her grenades would destabilize its flight pattern at the very least."

"Alright, so we've got a way to keep its attention," the cat-girl said. Upon closer inspection, Jaune realized with much embarrassment that what had at first appeared to be feline ears were in fact the loops of a black bow. He was glad he hadn't mistaken her for a Faunus aloud; there were some people in the world who would have unfortunately taken that as a grave insult. "Now how do we take it down?"

When no one said anything, Jaune spoke up. "Weiss, can a blade bypass that thing's feathers?"

With a thoughtful look, Weiss nodded hesitantly. "Given the right amount of force and speed behind it, yes," she explained. "However, even if we could cut or stab the Nevermore, it would take a lot to take it down, short of beheading it."

Stroking his chin, Jaune pondered for a moment. "So cut off it's head, or..." he muttered to himself.

"Or?" Ruby prompted hopefully. Looking up, Jaune was startled to see the others looking at him expectantly, even Weiss.

"No or," Jaune shook his head. "It's a stupid thought. So we'll need to decapitate the sucker, and I'm pretty sure Ruby's the only one with a weapon big enough to manage that." His gaze drifted to the Nevermore (he _knew_ it had to have been something like that), which was currently tracing circles in the sky above the bridge/fortress/tower/whatever. "Weiss, can you do anything besides shoot ice with your magic circle things?"

"I can affect local gravity, dilate time, and create a variety of elemental effects given the proper Dust type," she rattled off with just a trace of haughtiness.

"Right, okay," Jaune assimilated the knowledge, turning to the dark-haired beauty next to Yang. "Er..."

"Blake," she said flatly.

"Right, Blake," Jaune coughed, blushing. "Blake, that ribbon around your arm is elastic, right?" Blake nodded, frowning lightly. "How much weight can it hold without snapping?"

"At least three times my own weight," she replied after a moment of consideration.

A plan was coming together in Jaune's mind now. "Alright," he said. "Here's what we're gonna do..."

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** And there we have it. As you can see, I've taken a few liberties when it comes to Jaune's personality. He's more or less the same person, but he's a lot more cautious because he's always had a bit of bad luck (understatement) in this story. Thus, he's got that waist pouch (and totally not a fanny pack) full of stuff. His motto is, _Be prepared_ , and he takes it pretty seriously.

For the purposes of this little tale's core concept, Jaune's Semblance, which we'll just call 'Heart of Gold' just for giggles, basically skews probability in Jaune's favor nine times out of ten. Instead of ending up hanging upside down after the crash with Ruby he gets a lap full of cut girl. Rather than making a complete fool of himself trying to 'rescue' Weiss, he manages to spin it so he looks noble. And then there's the feather hitting the shield _just right_ (insert meme here) to pierce the Deathstalker's weak point.

Next chapter, we'll see the downside of Jaune's Semblance, and the rest of initiation.

Thanks for reading, please review or PM me to share your thoughts, and have a great day!


	2. The Gambler

**Author's Note:** Well, this has certainly gotten a bigger response than I was expecting. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a Jaune-centric story would garner more attention than an OC one. Regardless, I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far.

One thing to note before we proceed. This story is not my priority at the moment. For now I'm just writing to occupy myself with something that's not one of my other stories...which is actually how a lot of my other stories came about if we're honest. Knowing that, don't expect massive chapters like in _The Golden Retriever_ or _Gamer's Soul._ I'll write for this story and when I come to a good stopping point I'll edit and post. Simple stuff.

Anyway, onto what you're actually here for.

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 2: The Gambler

* * *

Sitting in a make-shift slingshot made from a pair of sturdy trees, an over-sized rubber band, and magic, Ruby Rose couldn't help but think that this might not be the best of ideas. Perhaps if she'd come up with the plan it might have been different, but as it was even Ruby could see that this was a little nuts.

In essence, Jaune's little scheme was simple. Nora and Pyrrha would capture the Nevermore's attention and force it to go after them. Then, when it was totally invested in an attack vector, Weiss would release her gravity 'Glyph' and launch Ruby straight into the Nevermore, whereupon Crescent Rose would do what she was built to and relieve the Grimm of its head.

Above and behind them, further into the forest, Ruby heard the dull _whump_ of a grenade being launched followed by the sharp report of a rifle signified the beginning of the assault. An explosion of pink smoke detonated upon the Nevemore's left flank, and it let out a thunderous _quork_ of rage as it banked toward the spot they'd staked out for the two girls.

Standing next to Weiss, Jaune looked a bit like he had when she'd first seen him on the airship moments before barfing all over Yang's boots, which was to say that his complexion was somewhat green and his expression more than a little nauseous. But there was the tiniest ember of _something_ burning in his blue eyes that made Ruby grin. Uncle Qrow always used to say that 'fear' had two meanings: forget everything and run, or face everything and rise; it seemed Jaune had found the latter.

"Okay," he said as the Nevermore drew near. "Ruby, this is your rodeo. You give the signal."

"Roger, roger," she saluted, training her gaze on the fast-approaching Grimm. With all the practice with her Semblance and the countless hours spent on the firing range, Ruby liked to think she was pretty good at judging both distance and speed. Qrow had always sworn by a trick he'd learned while playing one of those ancient (well, comparatively) arcade games: "Aim where it's going, not where it is". When the Nevermore was almost on top of them and its crimson eyes focused on Pyrrha and Nora behind them, Ruby shouted, "NOW!"

She felt the tension of Blake's ribbon release and a split second later she was airborne, moving nearly as fast as her Semblance allowed her to while the creature's neck rushed toward her. Crescent Rose unfurled her petals and she reared back, ready to cut this birdie's head off.

Except just as Ruby began the swing to decapitate the Nevermore, its massive sail-like wings swept downward so it could achieve the lift required to stay in the sky. The turbulent winds caused by their passing buffeted Ruby and sent her spinning back to the ground, dizzy and disoriented.

Distantly, as the world twisted around her like a kaleidoscope, Ruby heard several voices screaming and one whooping excitedly. Without warning, something yanked on Crescent Rose _hard_ , and it was all she could do the keep a tight grip on her precious weapon's haft even as a rumbling _caw_ struck her ears like a hammer-blow. When she regained her bearings, she realized that her scythe's blade had caught on the Nevermore's left wing, right at the shoulder joint. Ruby tried desperately to unhook Crescent Rose, but it was stuck fast, and the constant jostling of the wind as it swept past her wasn't helping things at all.

If the Nevermore was aware of its passenger, it did a good job of not letting on. It squawked its mighty battle cry again as it descended upon the spot in the trees where Pyrrha and Nora had taken their potshots. She could just make out a flash of red and orange as the two girls dove for cover before the Nevermore's talons shredded about five yards of forest canopy simply by virtue of its gargantuan size.

Ruby briefly considered dropping into the trees while she was still at a relatively low altitude, but crushed that thought. She'd vowed upon Crescent Rose's birthing table (actually the work table in her dad's garage) that she would never abandon her child no matter how dire the straits.

And so, she gnashed her teeth and prepared her arms for an extended hang-out session.

* * *

As she watched her baby sister get dragged across the sky by an overgrown bird, Yang Xiao Long wrestled with the urge to grab Vomit Boy by the hood and pummel him to within an inch of his life. The _only_ reason she hadn't done so already was the generally panicked, but surprisingly shrewd expression on the boy's face as he followed the Nevermore's flight path. It was a look she'd seen on Qrow's face when he was coming up with a dangerously brilliant plan, although without the generous helping of anxiety Jaune's held.

Pyrrha and Nora came crashing through the underbrush, looking disheveled after their close run-in with the enemy.

To Jaune's credit, he didn't even hesitate. The moment they arrived, he turned to them with the fire of resolve in his eyes (helped by the fuel of sheer desperation, but that was beside the point). "I need your help to get me up there."

His partner was taken aback, but the ginger girl gave a full Atlesian salute with her massive war hammer slung across her shoulder. "Aye, sir! Just show me where you need me!"

"Pyrrha, you launch me up a little bit with your shield," he rattled off quickly, gaze moving back to the Nevermore and Ruby. "Nora, grab its attention again, and then when I get my own shield under me, hit me upward as high as you can."

Nora's grin became maniacal. "Can your shield hold against Magnhild's awesome might?" she asked.

Jaune eyed the weapon warily. "Let's hope to god it does," he muttered. "We're doing this out in the open, so as soon as I go up you get back into the trees."

He instructed Pyrrha on where to stand, then gave Nora the signal to fire. Nodding, the girl let loose with her pink explodey things and struck the Nevermore square in the face. Furious, it screeched again and dove upon them.

As Jaune prepared to tangle with the bird, Yang caught his arm. "Keep my sister safe," she said, as serious as she could. He simply gave her a guileless smile and nodded.

"That's the plan," he quipped lightly, then turned and raced toward Pyrrha. He leapt up, and the moment both feet were planted against Pyrrha's circular shield she heaved, sending him at least six feet up in the sky. He drew his blade and placed his sheath beneath him before it expanded into a kite shield at the pinnacle of his leap, then as he fell Nora raced forward, Magnhild shifting back into a hammer. With a battle cry and a swing that could make even a leather-lunged drill sergeant envious, Magnhild's blunt head struck Jaune's shield and detonated.

With a far less manly holler than he'd probably intended, Jaune was sent streaking upward into the sky, his sheath once more simply a scabbard as he was sent rocketing toward the jet-black menace. It was actually pretty awesome, Yang thought partly in admiration and partly in jealousy. The guy might seem like a bit of a dweeb, but he sure knew how to—

"Oh, no!" Pyrrha gasped in horror as the Nevermore plucked Jaune right out of the sky and swallowed him whole.

There were a few moments of utter silence as they all digested the scene before them (Yang winced even as she appreciated her own wit).

Before any of them could even begin to mourn the goofball they hardly knew, the Nevermore suddenly jerked in mid-air, letting out a strangled wheeze that sounded like the bellow of a broken foghorn before it began flailing around, losing height as it seemingly fought some invisible opponent. In its frantic thrashing, Crescent Rose was freed and Ruby coasted back down safely to the ground on a few quick cushions of high-impact sniper rifle recoil. Eventually, the Nevermore's struggles grew less frantic, and with an almost lethargic groan crashed into the ground, whereupon it began to slowly dissolve into whatever it was that Grimm were made of.

"Uh...what just happened?" Yang asked the group in general, but no one really had an answer.

They all rushed toward the disintegrating Grimm, but halted and leveled their weapons at it when the beak began to shift. Slowly, ever-so slowly, it opened, revealing a blood-soaked (at least that's what Yang guessed it was, it being black and all) Jaune looking exhausted but triumphant.

Pyrrha rushed forward immediately and helped him lift the beak so he could stumble out. "Jaune are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

He chuckled weakly. "And I thought airships were bad," he joked, then gave a full-body heave before turning back to the Nevermore and vomiting obsidian ichor onto the bird's broken and dissolving form. "Ugh..."

Ruby was suddenly there and swinging off Jaune's neck. "That was _AWESOME_ , Jaune! How did you do that?"

Looking uncomfortable, Jaune shrugged. "Well, it tried to swallow me and I sort of took offense to that. Apparently it's kind of hard to stay airborne when your lungs are full of blood or whatever these things have."

"Amazing," whispered Nora, eyes shining with admiration, which surprised Yang. In Yang's brief time knowing the girl she seemed to have only two volumes: loud and rock-concert.

Jaune flushed. "I wouldn't call getting halfway eaten amazing," he denied, but a tiny pleased smile was breaking through his embarrassment.

"Hey, you took down a Giant Nevermore all by your lonesome, saved my little sis... _again,_ and you're still alive to tell the tale!" Yang pointed out, giving him an affectionate punch to the shoulder that rocked him on his feet. "Let us give credit where it's due, Crow Food."

The poor boy's face twisted sullenly. "I almost prefer Vomit Boy," he groused, but Yang could tell he didn't take too much offense to his new nickname. "So...I suppose we head back to Beacon now? For some reason I could really go for some fried chicken."

* * *

Jaune felt like he could sleep for days, but he probably shouldn't nod off in the middle of the ceremony. Honestly, the entire day had been so surreal he must have pinched himself at least three dozen times to check that he wasn't dreaming. Not only had he rescued three ludicrously beautiful girls (one of them _twice_!), not only had he gotten his own awesome built-in deflector shield ( _and evidently there was a lot of it_ , he thought smugly), not _only_ had he vanquished a bonafide _creature of darkness_ , but it seemed like his luck was finally turning around.

Sure, he'd been flung halfway across the Emerald Forest by a Deathstalker, and okay his first plan to beat the Nevermore had almost gotten his new friend hurt, but he was still alive after a Beacon Academy Initiation. He'd read up a little on the Hunter school before he'd decided to attend, and one of the things that had stuck with him was that Initiation nearly always had a few fatalities every year. Jaune was just happy he hadn't become one of them.

Well, there was also the fact that he'd almost been eaten alive by a Grimm. That had been so heart-poundingly terrifying that his brain had almost literally seized up on him. The only thing that had saved his life was the fact that his fingers had accidentally hit his sheath's deployment button and the opening shield had gotten stuck in the Nevermore's throat, ripping the vulnerable lining of its esophagus and straight through to the trachea. He was fairly certain that he'd swallowed some of the disgustingly salty liquid that passed for Grimm blood, but the fact that he was still alive and kicking had quickly washed that less than savory moment from his mind.

All in all, everything was coming up Jaune today.

"...shall be known as Team JNPR, under the leadership of Jaune Arc," the headmaster finished, gesturing to his team.

Wait... _his_ team?

Jaune suddenly felt ill again.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** Well, Jaune's first plan didn't work thanks to an unlucky bit of timing while the second was more 'I need to get up there by any means necessary' and less any tactical response to a change in the situation. And he almost got swallowed for it. So yeah. Luck be a lady, and Jaune isn't exactly the smoothest dude around. Our poor blonde friend is in for an exceedingly weird time at Beacon.

Special thanks to **justjustin3099** for pointing out a mistake in the first chapter in which I called Nora's projectiles rockets rather than the proper nomenclature of grenade. A subtle shout-out to that moment of oversight on my part was included in Yang's segment (where she calls Nora's grenades _'explodey things'_. It's been fixed, but let this note stand as a testament to my failures as an editor.

A less special (but no less heartfelt) thanks to all who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this humble writer's story. I appreciate you all. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!


	3. Get Lucky

**Author's Note:** I should have written a Jaune fanfic _ages_ ago! It hasn't been a week and follows are already in the triple-digits! And two thousand-plus views and I'm not even ten thousand words in! As thanks for making this my most rapidly-growing story yet, here's a present!

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3: Get Lucky

* * *

Man, _I shouldn't have had that fifth glass of milk last night_ , Jaune thought as he woke up. After the shock of his appointment as team leader the night before, he and his new subordinates (and boy was _that_ hard to wrap his mind around) spent some time bonding as they unpacked and decorated their new dormitory. He, Pyrrha, and Ren had also been forced to talk Nora down from attempting to build bunks out of bed frames that were clearly not designed for such a purpose; he'd had too much misfortune heaped on him to so blatantly thumb his nose at Fate. The end result had been Ren whipping up some of the most delicious pancakes Jaune had ever eaten with his trusty portable griddle ("I never go anywhere without it," he'd confided in Jaune after Nora had gone into a flapjack-induced coma).

It was a strange thing for Jaune to stare up at the unfamiliar ceiling and realize that, barring a worst-case scenario, he would be calling this place home for the next year at least. The feeling was so intense that he was unable to sleep, and resorted to his mother's way of coping with insomnia by drinking warm milk. Of course he should have figured that over-doing it would bite him in the _tuchus_.

Jaune awkwardly shuffled to the bathroom with his eyelids half-glued shut, making a valiant attempt at keeping his composure. He opened the door, and it took his sleep-addled mind a moment to process the alluring sight before him. Pyrrha stared back at him with wide green eyes, halfway through the motion of pulling her skirt up to her hips.

As redness rose from Pyrrha's exposed chest to her face his brain suddenly snapped to attention and he slapped a hand over his face while shutting the door quickly. "Pyrrha, I'm sorry!" he called, spinning around to head back to bed only to bash his toe against the bedpost. Aura was a hell of a healer and protected from a lot of things, but it apparently only dulled blunt-force trauma, as evidenced by the massive jolt of pain that punched up his leg like a railroad spike. "Why?" he demanded of the uncaring gods above as he cradled his injured foot, only to be once more put in his place as he teetered on the other and toppled over, cracking his head on Magnhild, which had been negligently thrown on the ground by its owner.

Groaning, Jaune blearily regarded the curious turquoise eyes swimming above him. "Jaune? Why are you on the ground?"

The bathroom door creaked open and a (disappointingly) fully-dressed Pyrrha rushed out looking concerned. "Jaune, what happened?"

"Just tripped," he tried to sound reassuring, but he didn't think it worked based on how Pyrrha's frown deepened. It was hard maintaining eye contact after seeing so much of her...

 _Focus!_ he commanded himself. _That way lays madness...such wonderfully ample madn—NO! Don't think about her boobs, no matter how enticingly supple they looked!_

"Are you sure you're alright?" Pyrrha inquired worriedly, and Jaune speculated whether he'd accidentally stepped on a leprechaun or something to have gotten lucky enough for this magnificent goddess to choose him as a partner. She was still concerned about him even after he'd accidentally peeped on her, and a day after meeting , too! He didn't deserve such a sweet person.

"I'm fine, Pyrrha," he reiterated more firmly, slowly standing up and shaking his head experimentally. Thankfully it only gave a dull throb in protest and he once again marveled at the power of Aura. "I'm sort of clumsy, so I'm used to falling down a lot. Comes with the territory of being me."

"Well, if you're sure," she hedged uncertainly. "About earlier..."

"Totally my fault," Jaune insisted, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. "I should have knocked. I didn't mean—"

"It's okay," she cut him off, looking as flushed as he felt. "This was bound to happen eventually, what with our mixed-gender team and all."

Nora, who had been looking bemused, suddenly brightened. "Oh, did you sneak a peak, Jaune-Jaune?" she asked cheerfully. She elbowed him slyly in the ribs. "I didn't know you had it in you, Fearless Leader."

"I-I didn't do it on purpose," he denied frantically, his gaze bouncing nervously between the two girls.

" _Suuure_ ya didn't," Nora drawled with a skeptical smirk, shooting him an exaggerated wink and a thumbs-up. She turned to her female compatriot and stage-whispered, "We're gonna need to keep an eye on this pervert from now on."

Jaune floundered for a moment before giving it up as a lost cause and slinking away to the bathroom to get ready, swiping up one of his new uniforms as he went.

As the door closed behind him, he distinctly heard Nora's speculative voice. "You should make him strip in front of you to get even."

Sighing, he turned on the hot water tap. Just another lovely morning in the life of Jaune Arc.

* * *

Professor Peter Port was an avid student of life, believing that in order to be an effective educator one must forever be aware of the the fact that there was always something new to discover. To teach young, bright minds and arm them with knowledge which could very well save their lives was the height of a man's true romance, and Peter loved every second of it.

The fact that Huntresses in training were easy on the eyes was just a pleasant bonus.

As he gave his well-rehearsed opening speech to the new first-year students, Peter allowed himself to inspect this most recent batch. A few stood out, notably the top-heavy blonde in the front row. The size of those biceps...goodness! A strong lass like that would have no end of suitors in her years here.

Peter wasn't a fool; he knew that he sometimes tended to carry on about his exploits more than was strictly necessary. However, if these fine young people couldn't see how to apply the information he was generously dishing out to them then they wouldn't be as excited and eager to learn as they were. Why, the little brunette—er...redhead?—that Ozpin had chosen was vigorously taking notes while the Schnee girl sat studiously beside her partner murmuring softly, probably expressing awe at her new professor's mighty feats of bravery. The sight nearly brought tears to Peter's eyes, not that the salty discharge would ever be foolish enough to even _think_ of falling from his rugged eyelids.

His start-of-term soliloquy finished, Peter strode to the side of the lectern to the rattling cage which had been rattling occasionally and threw off the tarp covering it. Cursed Boarbatusk didn't fancy being caged, well how did it think humanity felt, trapped behind walls and kept in a cage no matter how luxurious?

"Now, who here thinks they have what it takes to be a true Huntsman?" he challenged, scanning the rows steadily. A brief motion to his left caught his attention, but before he could turn fully a loud crash brought his attention to the other side of the lecture hall.

The cause of the disturbance was that blonde young man who had taken down that Giant Nevermore the day before during Initiation, Jaune Arc if he wasn't mistaken. He was lying in a boneless heap at the foot of the stairs leading down to the podium, probably so eager to prove himself that he tripped and fell in his haste.

"Such enthusiasm!" roared Peter jovially, striding forward to help the fellow out. "Up you get. Now, have you your weapon ready, Mr. Arc?"

"Uh..." he began, only for his orange-haired teammate Nora Valkyrie to unexpectedly toss the sheathed arming sword down to Jaune.

"Catch, Fearless Leader!" she called belatedly, right as the pommel struck him squarely in the center of his forehead.

"Nora," young Lie Ren hissed, tone dripping with exasperation.

The girl giggled innocently, poking her bottom lip out and placing a hand on her cheek. "It looks like I just picked myself a bouquet of Oopsie-Daisies!"

"I'm alright," Jaune slurred, staggering as he ducked down to pick up his blade and faced Peter.

"Stupendous!" Peter declared, clapping the hardy fellow on the shoulder, making a point to ignore the boy's slight stumble. "Now, if you'll stand over there, I'll just free this Grimm and let you have at it!"

Peter gently nudged him off to the opposite side of the well and nimbly leapt up to retrieve Prokofiev, his trusty Double-Headed Battle Blunderbuss, secretly chuckling at the dumbstruck expressions on his students' faces. These youngsters, always so firm in the belief that their elders had nothing more to teach them...

He took a position beside the restless cage and stared hard at Jaune. "Are you ready?"

The boy took a deep, steadying breath and released it shakily, closing his eyes. Peter took that as a sign of agreement and swung down with Prokofiev, slicing neatly through the reinforced padlock with ease.

The Boarbatusk wasted no time in nosing aside the door and bursting out into freedom. With Peter outside of its limited peripheral vision, the Grimm's eyes focused upon Jaune and it snorted in rage before charging. Four hoofbeats in it leapt forward and curled itself into a ball going twice as fast.

With an odd-sounding battle-cry, Jaune bared steel and Peter was taken back to the days when his father would speak in hushed, reverent tones of the Yellow Death, the sword which had ended the Color Wars once and for all. As the shield extended from its scabbard form and the twin arches of House Arc formed the aging professor wondered what Crocea Mors' newest wielder would achieve with such a legendary weapon at his hip.

Jaune promptly dropped the heater shield on his foot and knelt to pick it up, only for the bottom point to get jammed into a crack in the flagstones. For a moment, Peter was worried the boy would get steamrolled flat like a pancake, but when the spin-dashing Boarbatusk reached him the shield acted as a ramp with Jaune supporting the weight. Like one of those silly daredevils who tried jumping the Dark Divide on a motorcycle, the Boarbatusk went flying up into the air, bouncing off two walls before landing stomach-first onto the outstretched blade of Crocea Mors.

There was a moment of shocked silence before the blonde girl with the incredibly fetching biceps whooped and shouted, "Yeah, Crow Food! I always said you'd make a good warrior when pigs fly."

"You've only known me for a few days," Jaune shot back, rolling his eyes. He pulled his blade out of the fading Boarbatusk, and Peter sighed. The students never thought how difficult it might be to wrangle a Grimm for them to practice on, never gave him any consideration.

Speaking of students, Peter looked curiously at Jaune, who was cleaning the ichor from Crocea Mors' silvery steel. Even he would have had trouble holding that shield steady against a Boarbatusk in full charge, no matter how good his leverage. That boy mist have had something else helping him out.

The bell rang, and Peter dismissed the group of students idly. Well, time to head back to the Emerald Forest and find Edgar XXIV!

* * *

Jaune rubbed his shoulder to soothe the residual pain of getting rammed into by five hundred pounds of cursed pork at high speeds. That had been close, but if he was able to handle something like that on his first day of classes, then he shouldn't be too far behind the rest, right?

Sighing, he hung his head. Jaune was a terrible liar; he couldn't even lie to himself to put some cheer back into his life. Maybe coming to Beacon had been a mistake...

A small, fast-moving object slammed into him without warning, and Jaune threw out his arms to catch himself as he fell backward. His shoulders hit cold stone followed quickly by the back of his head, and a human-shaped thing landed on him soon after.

"Ugh," he groaned, trying to get a grip on whatever had hit him. The odd, springy sensation that his hands reported was strange, and Jaune opened his eyes to inspect his assailant.

Blue eyes much paler than his own glared down at him from a pink face, and he frowned in confusion. "Weiss? What are you...?"

Jaune suddenly registered that his hands were in a very... _compromising_ place on Weiss' body, and he only had a moment to lament his terrible luck before Weiss slugged him in the nose. His skull struck the ground for the second time in as many minutes, and Jaune briefly considered just falling to unconsciousness. But there was something besides indignant fury in Weiss' eyes, and the protective instinct tattooed into his brain by seventeen years of living with a bevy of sisters desperately called out to aid her.

So he sucked up the pain and gave her his best serious face. "Weiss, what's wrong?"

"What's wro—?" For a moment she seemed speechless with rage. "I'm being molested by a giant doofus, that's what's wrong!"

"Sorry, that was an accident," he said, "You _did_ run into me in the first place...not that I'm complaining!" Jaune hurriedly explained when the anger rose high in her cheeks. "But...well, I mean our teams are right across the hall from each other, and if you've got a problem I'm always around to lend an ear. My sisters always said I'm a great listener."

"Sucking up to me isn't going to work," she snapped, somehow managing to make scrabbling to her feet look graceful. "It's been tried too many times for me to fall for such basic tactics."

"What are you talking about?" he asked, bewildered. "I'm not trying to suck up; I'm trying to be a good friend!"

"You hardly know me!" she said, throwing his words to Yang earlier back at him. "We're virtually strangers!"

"Well..." Jaune's mind went back to his meeting with Ruby and he smiled a little. "My mom used to say that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

"It's a wonder you and your sisters were never kidnapped," she retorted, but a hint of uncertainty glimmered in her eyes. "I...just had an upsetting conversation with Professor Port, if you _must_ know."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he offered hesitantly.

"...I'm angry that Ruby was made team leader and not me," she admitted, looking away. "I mean, I _was_...I don't know. She's two years younger than everyone else, some sort of prodigy or something. I've spent my entire life learning how to lead from the best tutors in the world, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't even _want_ to be leader!"

"Well, maybe that's it," Jaune pointed out softly. When Weiss looked at him in bemusement he elaborated. "My dad liked to say that the ones most fit to lead are the ones who don't want to lead at all. Not that wanting to lead is bad or anything," he was quick to clarify, "but I think what he meant was that overconfidence is a bad quality in a leader."

"So you're saying that I'm overconfident?" she demanded, her vitriol growing once more.

"No, no!" he denied hastily, running an anxious hand through his hair. Why was he so bad with words? "Well, maybe a little? I think, maybe you should stop focusing on what you don't have and spend some time trying to be the best at what you already are: Ruby's partner. Instead of getting mad that she was picked as leader instead of you and thinking that she's not the right choice, help her _become_ the right choice. I mean, you said it yourself, you were taught how to be a great leader, so you should be the best person to bring her up to snuff on the whole situation."

Weiss blinked several times slowly. "You...might be onto something," she said, sounding vaguely surprised. "I'm shocked I'm about to say this, but thank you for the advice, Jaune." She reached down and helped him to his feet. "Just this once, I'll overlook your crass attempts at groping me," she said, flushing prettily.

"Th-thanks?" he replied. "I think I'm going to take a walk and clear my head. If you're going to dinner, could you tell my team?"

"Very well," Weiss agreed and turned away. "Have a pleasant stroll."

He watched the white-haired girl until she disappeared around the corner, then headed for the main avenue. For a moment, he thought he'd seen a figure standing in a doorway down the hall, but when he looked more closely there was nothing in sight.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** And Jaune's bi-polar luck strikes again. He's probably got a concussion after all those conks on the ol' noggin, but it doesn't matter: he saw Pyrrha's bewbs and got to touch Weiss' with no repercussions! I'd count that as a win. Plus Jaune dispenses some Arc family wisdom to Weiss, and we get an insight into the intriguing mind of Peter Port.

The name I've given Port's weapon comes from Sergei Prokofiev, the writer and composer of _Peter and the Wolf_ , which the tale that Professor Port has been confirmed to allude to. More non-named weapons will be named, and there'll probably be a bit more peripheral world-building. And for those who read _The Golden Retriever_ , there's a little tiny Easter Egg that references one of the recent locations shown in that story here in Peter's segment, so if you caught that, awesome!

Any questions or comments are welcome in either a review or a private message. My sincerest thanks and appreciation go out to everyone who followed, favorited, and most especially reviewed this silly tale of mine, and I'd like to wish you all a great day!


	4. Rabbit's Foot

**Author's Note:** I'm not sure quite where all the inspiration for this is coming from, but I'm not about to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Here's the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 4: Rabbit's Foot

* * *

Lie Ren quietly observed the fighters in the arena as they circled like jackals over the last morsel of meat. To his left, Nora was screaming G-rated obscenities at the bulkier of the two while Pyrrha cheered more moderately for her partner on his other side. In the row in front of them, Team RWBY was also egging his leader on in their own unique ways.

It was the second week of classes, and Ren had been very pleasantly surprised by how much he was enjoying himself. His time at Oasis in Vacuo had been adequate, he supposed, but Nora's... _enthusiasm_ deterred all of the other students from attempting to befriend her and, by extension, himself as well. Not that he was complaining or anything; Nora was more than enough for him. It was just...sometimes he wished that he could have had a less exuberant companion.

His arrival at Beacon had granted him just that. His new teammates were both amazing in their own right. Pyrrha Nikos was polite to a fault, and incredibly kind to just about everyone she met, but Ren had seen her fight before and he knew that beneath that genuine goodness was a fierce warrior just waiting to be unleashed. Jaune, on the other hand, was a bit of a goofball, but his heart was definitely in the right place. When he offered to buy the team dinner at the end of the first week so they could get to know each other better, Nora had demanded pancakes and Jaune, bless him, hadn't even batted an eyelash and took them to a cozy little diner in Vale that boasted of all-you-can-eat flapjacks and more proper dinnertime fare for the rest of the team.

The all-female team across the hall from them was starting to grow on him, too, though he wasn't quite as comfortable with them as he was with Pyrrha and Jaune just yet. When the two teams got together, Ren was most content to sit with Blake, who was likewise quiet and reserved. It was the closest thing to kinship he'd felt in quite a while, doubly so because Blake's partner Yang could give Nora a run for her money in terms of sheer, mind-boggling energy. Weiss could be a little demanding of them at times, nagging at the group about schoolwork ("Nora, what is this chicken-scratch you call writing? Do it over, and try to make it halfway legible!"), but Ren realized after a few days that it was just her odd way of showing she cared about them. Then there was Ruby, the cute little button of a leader whose skill with her scythe rifle far exceeded anything he could do with Stormflower. It was a little emasculating, but spending so much of his life with Nora had pretty much neutered him before he could even pronounce 'seminal vesicle', so that wasn't really an issue.

Really, Ren couldn't find much to complain about at Beacon. He had more friends than he'd ever had in his life, his life-long partner was thriving in the attentions of her new female companions, and he finally had a male buddy he could esca—er...unwind with away from Nora.

Except Jaune was a bit strange himself. Despite having qualified for the prestigious academy and even being selected as Team JNPR's leader, the guy was insanely clumsy. It was like he managed to find every crack in the floor to trip over, every loose floorboard to crash through, every post and table leg and banister to stub his toe or bark his shins against. Ren was honestly surprised Jaune had lived past his infancy, even if he felt immediately bad for thinking that.

Actually, as Ren watched Jaune drop his shield and stumble just in time to dodge a blistering swing from Cardin Winchester's mace, a niggling suspicion began to form in his mind. During the Initiation, Ren had been very impressed by the blonde's tactical initiative, using the Nevermore's ranged attacks to injure the Deathstalker, and then come up with a risky plan on the fly when Ruby was endangered, even taking the blasted thing down by himself.

His technique was sloppy, his style non-existent, and yet when Jaune did fight he made every little bit count. He sometimes pulled off sneaky and imaginative ploys that had even caught Ren off-guard a few times during practice spars that utilized Jaune's ridiculously overdeveloped situational awareness.

But the point was, Jaune's performance as a warrior was a bit lacking, and it seemed that it was only through the devil's own luck that Ren's leader ever triumphed. Even while he was thinking that, Cardin slammed his mace into the ground, activating its explosive component. The resulting blast tore chunks out of the arena floor and accelerated them toward Jaune at high speeds.

To his credit, Jaune was quick to move laterally, keeping his shield up. One of the flagstone pieces went low, though, and hit Jaune's knee with a sharp crack. With a muffled groan of pain, Jaune went down, arms flailing. The sword in his hand was sent flying off to the edge of the ring, but the shield went the other direction, straight into Cardin's unprotected face. The bigger man went down like a brick building, his mace falling from nerveless fingers.

"The winner is of the match is Jaune Arc," Professor Goodwitch stated, stepping toward the center of the arena with Crocea Mors in hand. She presented it to Jaune, who hesitated a beat before grasping the hilt, and thanked her quietly. "Well done, Mr. Arc, though perhaps you should spend a little more time in the training rooms to work on your evasion."

"You got it, Professor," Jaune replied earnestly. He limped back up the stairs while Goodwitch called the rest of CRDL to take their leader to the infirmary to check for concussion.

"Nice work, Jaune!" Pyrrha was the first to congratulate her partner when he got to them, and he rubbed the back of his head, a nervous tic Ren had made a note of almost as soon as they'd met.

"It was nothing, really," he demurred modestly.

"I'll say," Weiss simpered from in front of them. "You really need to work on your technique, Jaune. You can't always rely on dumb luck to win you the day."

Ren almost spoke up in favor of his leader when Weiss' words registered. _Could it really be that simple?_ he thought to himself as the other members of their group began to talk among themselves about Jaune's match. Hadn't Ren just been pondering on Jaune's incredible fortune in just about everything he'd seen of the blonde boy thus far?

Could Jaune Arc's Semblance possibly be centered around luck?

* * *

Jaune sighed to himself as he idly mixed his pea and carrot medley in with his mashed potatoes, ignoring the over-cooked hamburger on his plate. Since Initiation, Jaune had felt a strange sensation within himself. It wasn't a particular body part that he could point to, just his being in general. There were times when he felt rage unlike anything he'd ever felt before, even on... _that_ day, and contempt for everyone around him, even his friends. It was getting to where he had to make an excuse and flee his companions for fear of snapping at them viciously for no reason.

At first, he thought it might just be homesickness, but disregarded that idea almost immediately. He hadn't been to the Arc family home in over a month and a half, and while he missed the place dearly it had never felt so intense before. It couldn't be that his new friends' personalities were irritating him. Some of them even reminded him of his sisters a little bit, which was more of a relief than anything else.

Then came the fight against Cardin. It was the first actual match Jaune had been called down for, and he had been nervous, wondering if all the self-taught forms from half-burned books and sparring bouts against Ren would be worth anything. But when the battle had begun, all of that vanished, replaced by a smoldering anger that had caught him off-guard.

His attacks had been no more skilled than before, but they held behind them a furious strength that had scared him, and concerned his opponent, if the curious frown on Cardin's face had been anything to go by. And for a brief, horrifying moment after he'd knocked Cardin out, a part of him had urged his body to take up Crocea Mors and ram it down into the enemy's throat.

And so, Jaune picked at his food and generally had a miserable time feeling sorry for himself.

"Jaune?" He lifted his head up off his hand and looked at Pyrrha. "Are you okay?"

He sat up straighter and pasted a grin on his face. "Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be? Are _you_ okay?"

 _Again_ with that stupid tactic of repeating the question. Was he just doomed to be an idiot for the rest of his life?

"It seems like you're kinda...not okay," Ruby piped up with a worried look in her silver eyes.

"Is this about Cardin?"

Jaune frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"He's been bullying you," Blake pointed out flatly, taking a bit of her tuna melt.

Jaune blinked several times. " _Really_?" he asked, and there were sad nods all around. "But I've been bullied plenty of times as a kid," he protested. "I _think_ I'd be able to tell when someone's bullying me."

"What about that time when he tried to use Crocea Mors to get you stuck in a door jamb?" Yang said.

"You mean when I accidentally activated the shield mode and beaned him over the head when I tried to close it?" Jaune clarified, wincing. He had immediately felt bad for the guy and offered up some of the bruise cream his sister June had shown him how to make as a child.

"Or the time he almost shoved you into your rocket locker?" Nora added.

"No, see, that was Sky's fault," Jaune explained patiently, wondering why his friends didn't get it. "He was messing around with his poleaxe and hit Cardin by accident. He stumbled into my locker and his fingers must have hit the key pad in just the right spot because it took off right after it closed." That had been _really_ embarrassing, and he'd had to change his combination from 1-2-3-4 so as to prevent the same thing from happening again.

For some reason, Team RWBY and the majority of Team JNPR all traded exasperated looks.

"Look, whatever's on your mind, you can talk to us about it," Ren finally spoke for the first time all lunch.

"Yeah, we're your friends!" Ruby smiled at him, and his lips quirked up of their own accord. "That's what we're here for!"

"Thanks, guys," he said, "but I'm fine, really."

A muffled cry of pain turned his attention away from them and behind him. Team CRDL had gathered around a brown-haired young woman whom Jaune vaguely recalled as sharing History class with him. The cause of the whimper was immediate; Cardin was pulling on one of the large, brown rabbit ears sticking up from the girl's head and chortling to his friends about how he'd told them they were real.

That terrifying rage from earlier pooled in Jaune's gut and turned to acid that burned his guts at seeing such a blatant act of cowardice.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha hissed, grasping his hand. Blinking, Jaune looked down and saw that he'd clenched his fists around his steel tray and bent the edges all out of shape. Releasing his grasp with a short intake of breath, he let it out shakily and stood up.

"Sorry, guys, I've lost my appetite," he apologized, stepping out from around the bench. "I'll catch up later."

Jaune forced himself to ignore the scene occurring less than a meter away from him and felt like the worst sort of person imaginable for doing so.

Of course, that was when he tripped on thin-air. He fell forward, but his tray went in the opposite direction. A full hamburger patty collided with Cardin's face, followed quickly by a metal lunch tray. Sky was nailed in the ear by a large clump of mashed potatoes while Russel and Dove were both peppered with peas and carrots.

There was a breathless moment of stillness broken only by Jaune's scrambling attempts at regaining his feet. When he turned around and saw where his lunch had gone, he felt the blood drain from his face.

"Oh, shoot!" he gasped, reaching into his utility belt (because it _wasn't_ a fanny pack, dammit!) for some wet wipes. "Cardin, guys, I'm sorry about that. I really need to watch where I'm going..."

He duly handed out the wipes and began to dab at the ketchup dripping onto Cardin's breastplate. "Arc," Cardin gritted out in a voice of thoroughly forced calm. "You're lucky that I know just how incompetent you are, or I'd have pegged this as a malicious attack on my team."

"It wasn't, I'm just a clumsy idiot," Jaune pleaded. He already felt like a jerk for causing his classmate so much strife, and to add on to it even when CRDL were acting like dinguses (ding _i_?) just made him feel even lower. "Gah, why can't I catch a break?"

Cardin snatched the packet of wipes from Jaune's hand and began cleaning himself up. "Come on, guys, let's get cleaned up before next period," he snarled, and the others, who were also in the process of removing foodstuffs from their person, followed after him.

Jaune watched them go with a mix of disappointment and relief. Disappointment in that Cardin was obviously furious with him, and relief that he'd prevented an even bigger scene than before from breaking out.

"Um..." Jaune turned to the rabbit Faunus, who was wringing her hands together nervously. "Thanks...for making them stop. I'm Velvet."

"Oh, uh, no problem," Jaune replied, rubbing his neck self-consciously. Were _all_ Huntresses so beautiful, or was it just this batch? "I didn't _actually_ mean to do that, though. I really _am_ just a clumsy idiot." He chuckled disparagingly at himself.

"Whether or not you meant to doesn't matter," she argued meekly. "You still got them to quit bothering me. So, thanks. And I don't think you're an idiot..."

"Well, I...uh...guess you're welcome?" he said with a nervous grin that she returned in kind.

They stood there for a while before Velvet tucked a strand of hair behind her human ear and said, "Erm, I've got to get ready for class. It was nice to meet you, and thanks again. Bye!" And with an awkward wave, the Faunus girl quickly made her egress.

Sighing, Jaune stooped over to pick up his tray, only to straighten up immediately when he felt a hand impact his rear end forcefully.

"Wha—!?" he yelped, spinning to find Yang smirking at him.

"Nice moves, Lady Killer," she chortled. "Ruby, Weiss, me, Ruby again, and now that bunny girl? Are you making it your job to help out damsels in distress?"

Massaging the spot where Yang had spanked... _slapped_!...where Yang had _slapped_ his ass, Jaune shot her a dirty look. "Why, you jealous?"

Both his and Yang's eyes widened at the unexpected response, but she recovered more quickly, grinning like the cat who ate the canary. "Oh, so you can return fire, eh? Now this makes things more interesting."

Jaune cast his eyes heavenward, asking what he'd ever done to deserve such divine punishment.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** Not much to say about this chapter. I thought about dropping the whole Jaundice arc into a single big chapter, but I'm really enjoying these little updates. It's a lot more liberating than I'd thought it would be, and I don't have to worry about making my readers wait so damn long (seriously, there's a story I've got on my profile that hasn't been updated since 2013).

Jaune's bad feeling is something influenced by his Semblance, but not a part of it. We'll call it a lucky/unlucky accident. Ren's starting to piece together the odd happenings surrounding Jaune, and Cardin is slowly growing more frustrated with Jaune not just ignoring his bullying, but actively assisting him when the fallout hits. I'm not sure what to do with Cardin at the moment. There are a few paths I could take, the most obvious being keeping him as an asshole and inadvertently becoming fodder for Heart of Gold's Semblance shenanigans. I suppose we'll see.

And to all my readers, I'm so very sorry for that horrible pun in the chapter title. I've recently been using songs as chapter titles, and I remember listening to this one a while ago. With Velvet's introduction, I just didn't have enough self-control to stop myself.

Also, a big thanks for everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story so far. I hope you've enjoyed it so far. Have a great day, everyone!


	5. Charmed Life

**Author's Note:** And here's the fifth chapter. Enjoy!

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 5: Charmed Life

* * *

Pyrrha Nikos had a strict code of ethics. As a role-model to many future Huntsmen and Huntresses, she was bound by moral obligation to make sure she was a proper one to whom people of all walks of life could look up to. She was diligent in all aspects of her life, be it homework, training, or even simple chores she'd once performed around her family home. She tried to always look on the bright side, even when things looked their darkest. Above all, she tried to respect other peoples' privacy, even when nobody seemed to do the same in return.

Therefore, she found herself in a dilemma when Nora asked her (re: dragged her along by the arm) to help the ginger-haired girl spy on their male teammates. Of course, Nora hadn't called it _spying_ , but what else could one call hiding in some bushes and trying not to be seen while snooping around?

She, Ren, Nora, and Jaune had been a team for just over half a month, and in that time the two boys would regularly disappear in the evenings, returning hours later looking sweaty and disheveled. Pyrrha was fine with it; they were probably just doing some extra training or whatever it was that _guy stuff_ involved. However, Nora wasn't as easily satisfied.

Apparently, she and Ren had been together ("But not, y'know, _together-together_!") since their village had been attacked by Grimm years ago, and had relied upon one another ever since. When Ren suddenly started going places without her, she naturally began to worry.

Nora had tried many arguments on Pyrrha in order to cajole her into aiding in the espionage, but they had all failed until the hammer-wielder had landed on, "What if they're going out to pick up _chicks_?"

 _That_ had been a bit of a wake-up call. When they had first met, Jaune hadn't even known that Pyrrha was famous and only recognized her through that cereal endorsement her manager had insisted upon. Her interest in him increased further during Initiation, and as she learned more things about the blonde sword-and-board fighter the more Pyrrha realized she was crushing _hard_.

It wasn't a fact she had taken lightly, either. As soon as she had come to that startling epiphany, Pyrrha had gone to the Dust-Net for answers on how to handle such a mess. He was her _partner_ , for goodness' sake! They would be on the same team for four years, and if she made it awkward then who _knew_ what would happen to Team JNPR? The fact that they shared a dorm, a restroom, and most classes also didn't help. She'd once heard that absence made the heart grow fonder, but surely close proximity would have a more pronounced effect.

When Nora had made the supposition that Ren and Jaune were going out nightly to flirt (and God knew what else!) with women, Pyrrha finally came to terms with the fact that she _wanted_ Jaune, badly enough that she would do whatever it took to get him, and hang the consequences. Well, she wasn't going to go around breaking laws any time soon, but bending her own morals a bit wouldn't hurt.

So Pyrrha Nikos, advocate of privacy and personal space, found herself stalking two of her teammates while the third slunk about next to her.

She was actually a little surprised at how competent Nora was when it came to stealth, but when she voiced that sentiment Nora just giggled and said, "How else are you supposed to sneak into a syrup factory and steal a ten-gallon drum of maple?"

Well, she had a point...

Eventually, Ren and Jaune stopped in the middle of a copse of trees on the far edges of Beacon's grounds. The two boys unslung the backpacks they'd been carrying and pulled out a few lanterns, hanging them around the clearing for light. Pyrrha and Nora found a nice raspberry bush which was thankfully thorn-free that offered a good view of the glen while maintaining a nice obscuring effect that would hide them should either of their quarry turn in that direction.

"Okay, ready?" Ren asked once all the lanterns were hung, and Jaune nodded with his jaw set in a determined line.

"Yeah," he said firmly, falling into a loose, basic martial arts stance while Ren slid into his own more fluidly.

Then Ren moved, swinging a palm toward Jaune's gut. Jaune quickly raised his knee and took the hit there, then grabbed Ren's wrist and pulled him into a bear hug before flipping them both up into an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. They both grunted as the air left them, but Ren was quick to kick Jaune off of him with both legs and sprung to his feet in a single motion.

While Jaune rolled into a crouch to asses Ren, Pyrrha shot Nora an exasperated glare. "I _told_ you they were just training," she hissed.

"Oh, I know," Nora bobbed her head with a smile. "I just wanted to see what you'd do if I told you Jaune was hitting on other women."

Nora was lucky they were supposed to be incognito, otherwise Pyrrha would have leapt up and attempted to strangle the bubbly girl.

Before she could give into the temptation, the meaty sound of a fist connecting with a body echoed through the clearing and she turned to find Jaune on the floor.

"You okay?" his dark-haired teammate asked, offering a hand to help him up. It was hard to catch the concern in Ren's voice, but Pyrrha thought she was starting to pick up on the subtleties of Ren's voice and body language, though he didn't make it easy.

"Yeah, just got distracted by..." he trailed off, looking back and spotting the same red splotch in the darkness. At first, Pyrrha thought he might have been deep in thought, but as she looked closer she realized that Jaune was staring directly at their bush. Frowning, he hesitantly called out, "Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha's heart stopped beating for at least three seconds before it stuttered back up. Glancing up, she realized that the top of her ponytail was _extremely_ visible over the bush's brambles. Well, she supposed she couldn't hide anymore. _Time to face the music,_ she thought miserably.

"Hello again," she said, voice full of embarrassment and an awkward smile stretching her lips uncomfortably. It disappeared momentarily as she glared down at Nora (who was grinning mischievously) before reaching out and pulling her up as well.

"Hey, guys!" she chirped, cheerful as ever as she bounced over the bush toward them. "Guess what? Me and Pyrrha were _spying_ on you!"

"N-no we weren't!" Pyrrha denied instantly, waving her hands in front of her as if to rebuff the accusation. "Nora tricked me!"

"How?" Ren asked, sounding baffled, and Pyrrha's embarrassment grew further.

"I don't think that's really relev—"

"I told her that you guys were gonna pick up chicks and she got all jealous and possessive," Nora spoke over her protest with a sunny smile.

Ren's eyebrows rose even as Jaune's furrowed in thought. Nora had just handed Jaune the keys to unlocking Pyrrha's hidden infatuation, and he was about to figure it out! Panic and anticipation warred within her, and she almost missed Jaune speaking.

"Pyrrha, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, gesturing for her to follow. Nodding numbly, she trailed after him until they were out of ear-shot of their teammates. "Pyrrha, I get that sometimes you don't get to choose who you love," he began gently, and Pyrrha's heart plummeted down past the soles of her feet. Was he about to reject her feelings?

"...but despite how much she denies it, Nora likes Ren, too, and she _does_ have a better claim than you," Jaune continued, wincing awkwardly as he did so. Wait...did he think that she like _Ren_?

Fighting the urge to slap her forehead out of sheer exasperation, Pyrrha held up a hand to interrupt him. "I don't like Ren," she began bluntly, then backpedaled quickly. "I mean, he's nice and all, but I don't like him the way _Nora_ likes him."

"Oh," Jaune heaved a sigh of relief. "Well, that's great then!"

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, of course," Jaune laughed. "I was worried that a love-triangle within the team would tear us apart, and I can't have that happen when I'm in charge. I don't want to fail you guys like that."

Again, Pyrrha parried her natural instinct to make her frustration known via application of her hand to her face. Why did she have to fall for such an endearingly oblivious guy like Jaune? She couldn't even really be mad with him because he had their best interests at heart even when he thought he had gotten caught in a love triangle.

"Let's head back to the others," he suggested, and she agreed readily. When they got back to the clearing, Nora was hanging from a branch while Ren sat quietly at the base of the same tree.

"So, why didn't you boys tell us what you were doing out here?" Nora asked when they sat down beside Ren.

"Jaune asked if I would spar with him in order to stay sharp," Ren said with a shrug. "But when I realized how terrible his fighting style was I took it upon myself to train him."

Pyrrha had noticed that as well; during Combat Class earlier that day, Jaune had faced off against that Winchester fellow and while her partner had emerged victorious, it had been pure luck rather than skill which had won him the day. She had thought it strange that a Beacon first-year would be so ill-prepared for combat, but didn't want to seem rude.

Naturally, Nora was the one to broach the subject. "So, Jaune, how come you suck at fighting?" she asked with all the subtlety and tact of her weapon of choice.

Jaune froze up like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming train. "Uh...well you see...the thing about that is..." His sapphire gaze darted between the three of them frantically before he slumped, almost folding in on himself. "Guys, there's something I've got to tell you."

* * *

Jaune took a deep breath, looking at each of his teammates. Ren was passive, but his eyes were intent and focused. Pyrrha's face showed nothing but concern and support, which only made Jaune feel worse. Nora, of course, was simply curious.

He had hoped that after a week or so of Ren training him up a little that he could pass off his deficiencies when it came to combat as merely weak points in his education. But it became more and more apparent that the disparity in their skill wasn't going to be fixed any time soon. Jaune's childhood had been filled with stories of heroes fighting monsters, and while he'd always dreamed of wielding his family's blade dauntlessly against the forces of evil, they had always been just that: a boy's fantasies.

He'd never seriously wanted to become a Huntsman until only a month ago, and that was pretty much out of necessity rather than a life-long goal.

"I don't belong here," he said at last. Before they could interrupt, he pushed forward. "I used forged transcripts to get into Beacon, and I barely managed to get through Initiation in one piece. I don't know why I was made your leader, but...I don't deserve it. I don't even deserve to be in the same room as you."

"What are you talking about?" Nora's voice was skeptical. "You helped Yang and Weiss beat that Deathstalker and killed the Nevermore _by_ _yourself_. If that doesn't qualify you to be a Huntsman, then I don't know what does."

Jaune stared at her in shock, but Nora offered him a guileless smile. "Just because you didn't go to a prep school or get enough training doesn't mean you don't have what it takes."

"She's right," Pyrrha said firmly, reaching out and gripping his shoulder comfortingly. "You've got the most important thing necessary to become a great Huntsman: your desire to help others."

He felt like he should close his mouth, but he couldn't for the life of him get his jaw to work properly.

"Not to mention you've got quite a mind for some pretty unorthodox tactics," Ren pointed out. "I've been surprised by some of your moves before, and that's not something to be taken lightly. Even Nora has a tough time pulling that off."

The support his friends were showing him was overwhelming to Jaune. Growing up, his family had been the only ones to show any sort of faith in him in the small village where they lived. To everyone else he was merely the screw-up, the only Arc in living memory destined to fail at life.

When he set his sights for Beacon, it had been with the soul-crushing knowledge that he wouldn't have any of that encouragement. Now, though, with his team firmly behind him...it made him want to cry to be honest.

"You guys..." he choked out, closing his eyes to avoid embarrassing himself further. "Thanks."

He was surprised when a pair of arms encircled him and squeezed gently. "We'll always be here for you, Jaune," Pyrrha said, her voice muffled against his sweater.

"Heck yeah, we will!" Nora cheered, grabbing both of them around the waist and lifting them over her head in a crushing hug effortlessly. Ren simply gave a fortifying smile, but that was enough from his quiet brother-in-arms.

After a while, Nora let them go and Pyrrha peeled herself off of him. "So we're all gonna be doing this from now on, right?" Nora said pointedly, and Jaune nodded quickly.

"Sure," he agreed easily. "With all three of you helping me I can't help but get better." He checked his scroll, then frowned. "But for now, we should probably get back to the dorms before curfew. It's almost twelve."

As they took down the lanterns and stowed them in the packs, Nora asked one last question.

"Hey, so Jauney. How come you decided to go to Beacon if you'd never been trained to fight before?"

A wound across his heart which had slowly begun to scab over tore open anew, and Jaune flinched at the dull ache in his chest. "I-I'd rather not talk about that just yet," he hedged evasively, avoiding his team's eyes. "Maybe some other time..."

There were no more questions, and once they'd cleaned up after themselves, Team JNPR trooped back up to the school and off to bed.

None of them noticed the shock of green hair in the bushes on the other side of the glade.

* * *

The next day, Jaune found himself wandering the halls whistling a jaunty tune. Last night, despite ending on a bit of a sour note, had left him feeling more refreshed than he had in weeks. He had an absolutely _incredible_ team who were not only okay with him faking his way into Beacon, but believed in him enough to stand by him and show him the ropes as well. He had his health, great friends, and a century-old sword that could still hold an edge like nobody's business, he was eating a damn good cookie from the batch Ruby had baked for them, and best of all, he had a free period.

Of course, he could have been using this hour of down-time to exercise or something productive, but his mother had always espoused the merits of enjoying one's self. "All work and no play makes Jaune a dull boy," he mumbled to himself around a mouthful of chocolate chip.

He nearly choked on the sweet treat when a hand reached out from around a corner and grabbed him by the hood. Jaune's head slammed into the hard stone wall, and it took his eyes a moment to focus on his assailant.

"Oh, hey Cardin and team!" he said when he recognized the (slightly-blurry) figures. "You guys have a free period too?"

Cardin looked nonplussed for a moment before his lips melted into a smirk. "Yeah, we sure do, Jauney-boy," he agreed. "You know, I heard a terrible rumor about you from a little birdie yesterday."

Jaune rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Is it that one about my footie pajamas? For the last time, it was a gift from my mom."

"Not that one," Cardin's smirk widened as his teammates snickered darkly. Jaune frowned slightly. "This one's about you and some falsified documents."

Jaune's belly did a somersault, like he'd just missed a step on a huge flight of stairs. "Wh-what?"

"Yeah, apparently, someone thinks you might have faked your way into this illustrious academy," continued Cardin conversationally. "Of course, I'd never believe my ol' pal Jauney-boy would _ever_ do something like that, but you know how rumors are." The malicious grin on his face did nothing to assuage Jaune's growing anxiety.

"Wh-what do you want?" he asked, defeated.

"Oh, nothing spectacular," Cardin chuckled. "All you gotta do is _exactly what I tell you_. I say 'Jump' and you say...?"

"How high," Jaune sighed glumly. Maybe his friends were right in thinking that Cardin had it out for him. That nasty part of him, which had been dormant since that heart-to-heart with his team the night before, roared back to life and railed against the cage the black-mailing jerk had placed him in.

But there was nothing he could do. If he went to the teachers, he'd just get expelled. He didn't want to drag his team even further into this than they already were. What if they got expelled simply because of their association with him? The only option that didn't involve himself or his friends getting royally screwed-over was to do as Cardin said.

"Great," Cardin sneered victoriously. "I think we understand each other perfectly, Jauney-boy! You can start by doing the history essay Oobleck assigned us earlier. Here's the topics we chose." Jaune took the paper with numb fingers. "We're gonna need those before the field trip to Forever Fall, so don't dally!"

Jaune watched Team CRDL for a long moment as they sauntered away, then groaned and began trudging toward the library. Well, there was no use crying over spilled milk. Rolling up his mental sleeves, Jaune took a look at the paper and wracked his mind for any bit of information that would be useful.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** If you're wondering how Cardin knew about the fake transcripts thing, that green haired person in the bushes was Russel Thrush. Cardin wanted to know what was going on with Jaune and had his sneakiest teammate go after them.

So yeah.

Not much else to say about this chapter. Next chapter we'll figure out what the heck is up with Jaune and his wrathful feelings.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story so far. You guys just make me grin stupidly at my phone whenever I get an e-mail from FF.N, and though people have given me weird looks for that, I simply can't bring myself to care what they think.

However, I _do_ care what _you_ all think, so if you've got any questions or comments regarding the story, feel free to drop a PM or a review and I'll do my best to get back to you ASAP. I hope you've enjoyed reading, and I wish you all a great day!


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